1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile telephone terminal, and in particular, to an apparatus and a method for controlling opening and closing of a sub-body in an automatically and manually foldable mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mobile radio terminal is a portable mobile station that provides radio communication services to its subscriber while wirelessly communicating with a base station. Mobile telephone terminals are generally classified into two types of terminals, i.e., a bar-type terminal and a foldable terminal. The bar-type terminal with its keypad exposed to the outside, has recently trended toward less popular use due to its exposed keypad providing no protection against any careless use. On the other hand, the foldable terminal provided with a main body and a sub-body, which is foldably coupled to the main body so that it is designed to fully cover a keypad disposed on the main body, is winning much more popularity for its compact size and good protection for its keypad.
Conventionally, the foldable terminals are classified into a flip-type terminal, a flip-up-type terminal and a folder-type terminal. The flip-type terminal has a flip cover that serves as a sub-body for protecting the keypad mounted on a main body and concentrating a user's voice into a microphone mounted on the main body. The flip-up-type terminal is analogous to that of the flip-type in appearance, but further featured by a flip cover capable of opening up toward the upper side of the main body. The folder-type terminal has at least one display assembly consisting of one or more Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) modules mounted on either an inside or an outside, or both, of the sub-body other than a main body of the foldable terminal.
In recent years, customer need for a more convenient portable terminal has given rise to a so-called automatic foldable terminal designed to open and close the sub-body (usually referred to as a “folder”) automatically as well as manually, by means of driving a folder motor disposed inside the terminal. Therefore, it is noted that such an automatic foldable terminal requires a more efficient and precise control for driving the motor opening or closing the sub-body.